Mari Amachi -- Niji wo Watatte（虹をわたって）

The above photo is apparently 
from the SONY website. It's only 
being used for illustrative purposes.

 

When I was writing up last week's Reminiscings of Youth entry for Seals and Crofts' "Summer Breeze", I had been tempted to include this song for this article, 70s aidoru Mari Amachi's（天地真理）"Niji wo Watatte" (Crossing the Rainbow), as one of the comparative kayo songs. It was released on September 1st 1972, just a day after the release of "Summer Breeze".

Ah, but then I sheepishly discovered that I had yet to even cover this song, Amachi's 4th single. Oh, goofy me! For the record, "Niji wo Watatte" is the follow-up single to the lass' biggest hit "Hitori Janaino" (ひとりじゃないの）which came out back in May, and with the same composer Koichi Morita（森田公一）and arranger Shunichi Makaino（馬飼野俊一）from that song helping out on "Niji wo Watatte", it's not totally surprising that there is a certain similarity between the two in terms of the rhythm and style.

Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）was the lyricist here as Amachi sings about crossing that rainbow to be with that boyfriend. Strangely enough, my family and I had seen a rom-com movie starring the singer at the old Japanese-Canadian Cultural Centre back in the 1970s. I could recognize "Hitori Janaino" right off the bat being performed in the movie but there was another tune that Amachi sang on screen which may have been "Niji wo Watatte". In any case, the song was another big hit for her as it flew around the Oricon Top 10 for almost three months, hitting the top spot twice during that time. It ended up becoming the 13th-ranked single for 1972, selling a little over half a million records.